


Just Drive

by QuantumEntanglememt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Prepare to suffer, Road Trip, Romance, Secrets, Slow Burn, all of them - Freeform, awkward idiots to friends to partners in trying-not-to-die to awkward idiots that like each other, hunk and lance getting married, inspired by Halsey? Mayhaps, road trip au, they are going to be a mess, things might get a little spicy but no smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-05 03:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14608683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuantumEntanglememt/pseuds/QuantumEntanglememt
Summary: Katie 'Pidge' Holt doesn't like relying on people. She likes to get things done herself. She's especially not fond of being babysat. At least it feels like she’s being babysat when she ends up having Lotor essentially assigned as her guardian for the duration of her cross country road trip from Arizona to Florida, where Lance and Hunk are having their wedding.Pidge and Lotor didn't hate each other. But they never went out of their way to interact either.Pidge is barely ready for the long suffering silence that will come from this trip. She definitely is not ready for a life or death situation to arise that will force them to work together for the sake of the people they love. Armed only with their wits, hair brained ideas, and iron wills, Pidge and Lotor have to figure out who is after them, why, foil their plans, and make it to Florida by the end of the week for their friends' wedding. What could go wrong?Pidge and Lotor didn't hate each other. But they never thought they would love each other.





	1. Unsure

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've never written a fic before and have been dying to write a story lately but nothing has been coming to me. Then I was pacing around my house daydreaming about if Lotor and Pidge went on a road trip (like how A.J Locascio mentioned on a podcast a while back) and how it would play out in a modern day setting. Then I thought, why not try writing it? It was going to be a one shot but now my head is swimming with ideas for this. I've never done this before so please send feedback and comment! I'm really excited for what's to come. This chapter is for exposition but I think we'll get to the fun stuff really soon. ;)

Pidge and Lotor didn't hate each other. But they never went out of their way to interact either.

Now one of the richest bachelors of the country was pulled up in her driveway in a ridiculously expensive car that cost more than hers, her mother’s, and her father’s combined. Maybe double that. Pidge’s hands twitched on the strap of her duffle bag. She could do so much with the parts.

It was summer vacation of Lance, Hunk, and Keith’s third year and Pidge’s second year at Defender College of Technology and Design in New York City. Hunk and Lance went to Florida to stay with Lance’s family and set up the wedding.

Shiro and Keith went in a private plane with Allura and were sightseeing and helping out as it was now a week before the wedding. Pidge refused to accept Allura’s charity and wanted to drive there herself. Concerned, the group asked Lotor to accompany her. Pidge had a feeling he wasn’t given much of a choice. Allura and Shiro acted more like worried parents than her actual parents did. Matt found it hilarious.

Pidge met Lotor as well as Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Shiro a little after they all became friends with Allura during college. Allura and Lotor were cousins, loosely speaking. They grew up together because of the friendship and business partnership of their fathers. Allura and Lotor managed to maintain a close bond even after their fathers had a falling out that shook the world. Rumors swirled, but no one knew the true reason Alfor and Zarkon abruptly cut ties. Allura introduced Lotor to the group after the event, hoping to help put some distance between him and his father. It was never outwardly spoken, but everyone new Lotor had a complicated and possibly volatile relationship with his parents.

Lance immediately saw a new rival in Lotor and jumped at the chance to have someone to antagonize and tease. They ended up being surprisingly friendly. Lotor loosened up, very slightly but still noticeably, when he hung around Lance.

Hunk was uncomfortable with Lotor at first but quickly took a shine to him.

Shiro and Lotor already knew each other. They had met a couple times when Shiro worked for Zarkon’s company. Shiro never spoke about his time there. The group had speculations that Lotor knew details about the accident that caused Shiro’s arm to be severed in the factory but he and Shiro were tight-lipped about it. They were cordial but there was an undercurrent of unease when they were in close proximity.

Unlike the rest of them, Keith seemed to have an immediate connection with Lotor. They had the same stoicness and knack for observation and even the same occasional awkwardness when it came to social interaction. They didn't speak much but communicated in a series of nods and gestures that frustrated Pidge to no end. She liked to know the code to everything. She found people were the hardest code to crack.

 

Matt hissing out a stream of air from between his teeth and tightening his grip on her shoulder brought Pidge's attention back to the present.

Matt wasn’t the protective type. He let Pidge make her own mistakes and gave her advice when she asked for it. He knew she was capable of handling herself. They were lucky in the sibling lottery.  
In other words, something about Lotor didn’t sit well with Matt.

Matt would have gone on the trip with her and solved all of their problem but Arus, the company Allura’s father owned and the one Matt now worked for, was wrapping up a secret project that he was needed for. Pidge wasn’t going to pretend she wasn’t burning with curiosity about it. Unfortunately, no one ever told her a damned thing.

Lotor was out of his car now. He turned his wrist to look at his Rolex as he walked toward them. Pidge never got used to seeing Lotor in ‘regular’ clothes. He was tall and lean with long white hair, a stark and admittedly beautiful contrast to the warm brown of his skin, that almost reached his lower back. He had impeccable posture at all times and exuded an elegance that could only come with being raised with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He was stiff and polite even when he tried to be casual. Pidge felt that the 24 year old man would look more in his element in designer clothes or a suit. Instead he wore a black button up under a worn beige weatherbreaker matched with jeans and grey sneakers that looked like they came from a regular outlet shop.

The sun was brutal. She had no clue how he was wearing that. Pidge already felt uncomfortably sticky in a plain olive green T-shirt and basketball shorts. Her fair skin was burning, even with a thick layer of sunblock, only one minute into being outside. Her hair hung in a low ponytail and the feel of it against her neck was driving her crazy. Meanwhile, Lotor looked unaffected.

Lotor reached a slender hand outward to Pidge. Her brain must’ve been fried because she had no clue what he was trying to say. Matt bristled next to her and pried her duffel back from her sweaty fingers.

“I got it,” He said to Lotor while moving past him, “You get the suitcase.”

Lotor arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow but said nothing about Matt’s brusque tone. He shrugged amiably and grabbed the suitcase handle. Pidge’s instinct at someone other than a family member touching her things caught up to her before she realized what she was doing. She smacked her hand right on top of Lotor’s, maybe intending to take it herself, she didn’t know. He was now at her height, hunched in an effort to take her suitcase, and they were practically nose to nose. Now both his eyebrows were up.

“May I?” he asked.

Pidge quickly released and let out a “Whoops. Yep. Have at it. Sorry about the sweaty hands.”

Pidge mentally launched herself into the sun. This was going to be a long road trip.


	2. Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! Plot starts finally. This will be more interaction heavy after this chapter now that I got the ball rolling. I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> Hit me up with your thoughts, ideas, and whatever else. Thank you for reading!

Pidge had a secret

The secret wasn’t hers. She was pretty much an open book at all times. She didn’t have the desire or caution necessary to keep things to herself. What she felt usually spurt out of her mouth whether she pre-approved the words in her head or not. The only reason Pidge had a secret now was because she was bored and tired. The bored part was easy to explain. She wanted to do something that would give her a rush. Something that felt dangerous but had little risk of actually being dangerous. The tired part was a little more complex. Darker. She avoided dwelling on that bit of reasoning to her actions.

Pidge literally had a secret. And it was one she’d stolen. She held it in her hand. Fiddled with it to keep her occupied as she and Lotor made their way down the bright desert road.

They had just left Pidge’s house in Carefree, Arizona and were met with no traffic and swaths of red lights. They were at one now. 

The lights were always malfunctioning in Carefree. The town could only do so much about it. The heat made them wonky. The 3,700 residents of Carefree navigated the roads following a silent agreement that matched the signs at unattended pools and public beaches:

“No working lights on duty. Drive at your own risk.”

Pidge told Lotor as much but he was determined to follow the law to the letter. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in what Pidge assumed was impatience. She would be snapping at him to go if it weren’t for the superb air conditioning system his car had. She wasn’t used to being cool in Arizona. His car was a sleek black BMW with an all leather interior that would make anyone who cared about cars jealous. Pidge wasn’t jealous. At first. She was rethinking her feelings on the matter now that she felt like she was relaxing in a large fridge on wheels.

Drrrrm, drrrrm, drrrrm, went his fingers on the wheel. It had to have been ten minutes now. Pidge peeked at Lotor’s rolex. He moved his wrist, perfunctory. She couldn’t tell if it was intentional. His scowl hadn’t changed.

“Lotor…” She addressed him hesitantly by poking him with the secret she held. He glanced down at it as she prodded him before meeting her eyes. Pidge pointed to the road with the flash drive.

“I promise we won’t die if you go through the light. We’ve seen what? Two cars pass this intersection since we hit the light? I think if I look behind us I might still be able to see my house.”

Pidge turned in her seat for dramatic emphasis.

“Oh look. There’s Matt with his arms crossed in the driveway.”

It was a lie and Pidge knew Lotor knew it. She thought she almost caught him smiling but he kept a stern gaze on the road. She sighed. Pidge was about to walk back home and take her old Jeep to Florida herself, not that it would make it; but it was better than this.

“Okay.” He said after another spell of silence. 

He inched the car forward at a comical pace that made Pidge snort. She caught herself. This was the first time Pidge was alone with Lotor for such a long stretch of time. And they had only been together for fifteen terse minutes. She didn’t know how to act around the guy. Pidge wasn’t one for tempering down her personality for the sake of others but Lotor made her feel antsy. He wore a mask that Pidge called to herself his “Warrior Prince Persona.” He was diplomatic and logical and held himself with pride but Pidge also noticed a few traits that fought against his mild manner: a stance that showed he was waiting and ready for danger and the rigidness of a caged animal.

She saw the same thing in Shiro. There was also a shadow of it in Keith.

Pidge knew Shiro and Keith. Pidge didn’t know Lotor. He was a whole other animal. She felt like she had to pick her words carefully around him. Pidge was not good at that.

Lotor successfully drove the car through the intersection and Pidge whooped at the little victory. 

“Sorry for the wait.” Lotor pushed his hair behind his ear and shoved the rest off his shoulder.

“Can’t you put it up?” Pidge asked. That hair must be uncomfortable. She had enough trouble with her own shoulder length mess.

“Hmmm? Oh, my hair. I forgot my hair tie in New York.”

Pidge winced. It was ridiculous that he flew to Arizona just to help drive her down to Kendall, Florida. She hated that after a solid few years of friendship, the crew still saw her as a kid sister that needed to be watched over.

Well, not Keith, but they agreed no one had to know about that. It wasn’t serious, anyways.

Pidge extended her wrist to Lotor. They reached another red light. He could face her without risking a crash. 

He plucked at a green and white striped scrunchy from the tangle elastic bands, hair ties, and scrunchies collected on her wrist. He used his other hand to pull it free from one of the pins slotted in the mess. He muttered an embarrassed apology at all the contact. As her face warmed considerably, Pidge berated herself for not just handing him a hair tie herself. His hands were gentle and he kept pulling back as if he wasn’t sure if he could keep going. Finally, he got it free. They both sat back heavily into their seats with relief. Lotor pulled his hair in a handsome ponytail, not that Pidge noticed how comely it made him look, and drove through the red light; suddenly not as interested in following the rules of the road.

Lotor was drumming her fingers on the wheel again. She must of irritated him. Pidge was furiously flipping the flash drive in her hands as a distraction from looking at him too much. 

Lotor’s features fascinated Pidge. He had a fine, feminine bone structure on a heart-shaped face and the same violet-blue eyes that Elizabeth Taylor was once famous for. And the hair, of course. Pidge was baffled that Lotor and Allura had the same genetic mutation that gave them natural white hair without being related. What were the chances? Then there was the straight nose, perfect eyebrows, and his beautiful unsmiling mouth. The man was stupid pretty. Pidge felt smudgy next to him.

Pidge put the flashdrive in her pocket in a violent motion. The whole trip couldn’t stay like this. They were going to be spending the night together for Godsake. She had to break the ice and steer them away from a ride of awkward silence and sparse genteel conversation.

“Do you like peanut butter?” She blurted out.

“Pardon?”

Foolish, dumb, no good idiot. Genius IQ my ass. Peanut butter???

Despite her thoughts, Pidge continued. 

“I have a jar in my bag if you want some. It’s a good road snack. I like peanut butter and I love peanut butter cookies but I didn’t have time to make the cookies for this trip because I was working on my Rover proje-”, Pidge scrambled for words to cover her slip up, “I was working on summer homework so I just threw in some peanut butter which is still good. But never peanuts. They’re dry and gross. I hate when they give me those on planes. Gross. Save them for elephants or something.” 

Pidge sent a prayer to God, Zeus, Thor, and any other deity with the power to smite her to do their job and leave nothing behind.

“I have peanut butter.” She finished with a groan. She waved weakly toward the back seat where her bag sat.

“I wouldn’t detest some peanut butter,” Lotor said, “I haven’t eaten anything since the airplane peanuts. Crunchy or smooth?”

“Smooth. I’m not some sort of barbarian.”

Pidge unclasped her seatbelt and reached over the middle console into the back seat. She rummaged around in her duffel bag for the sandwich bag with the peanut butter jar. Bingo! 

Wait, Crap.

“Hey. Do you mind sharing a spoon?” She called from her twisted position half in the front and half in the back. 

“Not if you don’t.” 

“Okay.” Pidge wiggled her way between the seats with the plastic baggy. She felt a little silly for worrying about spoon sharing. She did it with the guys all the time. It was still weird for her to be informal with Lotor. She was glad he was more able to take it in stride. 

Lotor leaned over the cup holders and slung his arm over Pidge. He pressed her back with bruising force before her butt could even make contact with the seat.

Slow and fast. Car crashes were slow and fast.

The car behind them had cut them off and then stopped. Just stopped. 

Lotor didn’t have the time to brake but had the good sense to try to act as a seatbelt for Pidge. The impact felt like it took forever. The car was right there but it felt like the crash was incoming from a football field away. Pidge remembered yelling Lotor’s name in warning even though he obviously saw what was coming. She didn’t feel in control of her own voice. 

She tensed. Grabbed Lotor’s arm. Closed her eyes.

Impact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry they both died that's the end of the fic.


	3. Mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started a new job at a farm stand and my body isn’t used to the labor yet. I adore the job. I’m lucky to have it. Doesn’t stop my body from falling apart when I get home tho. Tonight is one such night. I was going to watch some Ghost Whisperer, take a shower, and go the hell to sleep. I was going to save this chapter for my day off on Saturday BUT in a turn of events, I GOT MY FIRST COMMENT EVER! This chapter is dedicated to guest user Feeling Dreamy who motivated me to write this chap early. You’re the best! I hope you see this! And I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!!

The world was full of noise.

At home it was voices calling out to each other around the house and people clamoring up and down steps. It was the Arizona heat screaming against the ground. Tools being exchanged in the basement where Matt and Pidge sometimes worked together. 

At Defenders College in New York it was the scratch of pencil on paper and the unremitting honking of car horns out the window. It was the hushed murmurs of friends studying in the library. It was laughter and tortured groans that indicated a long and excruciating assignment.

In Keith’s dorm it was the sound and feel of his breath on her neck as he slept with an arm slung around her. It was the derisive snorts that came after the sarcasm that they shared. It was the the sing song way she often teased him.

Pidge was hyper aware of every noise right now.

The crash. The sound of air moving - where was it coming from? The airbags? Pidge didn’t remember the airbags deploying. Her breaths were like the rapid beat of butterfly wings in her ear. She tried to suck down air and met resistance. She coughed into her elbow. Pidge couldn’t breath. Why couldn’t she breathe?

Her goddamn ears were ringing

Every noise was muffled and loud. There was a door slamming. Shouts. A car revving. The cacophony hit her ears in an irritable tickle. 

Pidge, desperate to breathe, tried to push the car door open. It was jammed.

She let out a soft outraged cry. Tears of frustration unwittingly prickled at her eyes.

Suddenly, the door was wrenched from her grasp. Lotor peaked in through the gap that he managed to make. He swallowed her with his eyes. They were terrible. Narrowed and fiery and full of a simmering intensity that made Pidge pause in her panic.

“Shit,” he said. His eyes narrowed on her arm. 

The profanity jolted Pidge. She pushed her head through the cracked open door and gulped in the fresh air. The unidentified foul stench in the car streamed out, making it easier for Pidge to pull back, breathe, and help kick at the door as Lotor pulled the handle.

She scrambled out and clutched the arm of his weatherbreaker. He splayed his hand on her back. Part comfort. Part support.

It didn’t occur to either of them that she could’ve gone out the driver’s side until she was out. Car crashes really muddied logic, Pidge observed mildly.

“You’re shaking.” He said

Pidge didn’t notice she was shaking. She felt at once present and not quite there. This must’ve been shock.

“Listen. Pidge.” Lotor put his hands on either side of her face with a gentleness that seared more than the burning heat of the midday sun. Her already jumbled thoughts came to a stop. The gentleness of the action was confusing to her in how different it was from the situation they were in. 

“Other than your arm, do you feel anything wrong? Are you hurt?” His voice was firm. In control. Assessing the situation.

Her arm?

Pidge twisted her right arm, the one he was looking at when she was stuck in the car, and saw a inch thick burn that ran down from her shoulder to a little under her elbow. The ripped skin on the edges of the wound framed the strip that was pink and fleshy and spotted with blood. Now that she was looking at it, it started to tingle.

Huh.

It clicked then that the heavy scent that made her choke on air in the car was coming from the airbag. The press of her arm against the door mixed with the putrid contents released on impact, when the airbag burst, had resulted in a chemical burn.

Pidge took a mental inventory of the rest of her body. She felt raw and bruised but nothing was broken or missing.

She shook her head at Lotor, “Nothing’s broken. Where’s the guy that hit us?”

She looked at the skid in the road where whoever hit them drive off. She could’ve sworn they were hit on purpose. There was no traffic that could have caused the car to stop in front of them the way it did. It was all very intentional. Were they after Lotor? He was a well-known son of an even more well-known father that could fetch a handsome ransom.

She slid her eyes back to Lotor’s face. His hands were on her shoulders now. He looked through her, his nose scrunched as he thought the situation through. The cogs in his head turned slower their usual efficient rhythm. He was caught off guard. Lotor was not the type of man who could not forgive himself for that.

Lotor’s train of thought matched Pidge’s. It was not the first attempt made on his life. But then why did the assailant drive away? There was only one answer. It plagued Lotor to think about it. His thoughts were running in circles; trying to figure out any other reasoning that would fit. 

If Lotor was the target; the person in the car would have charged ahead and tried to capture or kill him, depending on their goal. But if Lotor wasn’t the target and there was a surprise variable in the mix, like the high profile rich son of a billionaire, the person in the car would have to retreat and rethink their plan.

_ If. If. If. _

Lotor could be wrong.

He wasn’t usually wrong.

He felt a flick on his forehead. It wasn’t the first. It was just the first he had noticed.

“I thought  _ I  _ was in shock. You’ve been staring at my face for a solid minute there. Are you counting the freckles or something?” Pidge put it upon herself to bring some lightness to the situation. Lotor wasn’t having it. He released Pidge from his grip, squared his shoulders, and stared her down with an unreadable expression that was highly effective in increasing her post-crash queasiness.

“Do you know why someone might want you dead?”

  
  


~ - ~

  
  


Mitchell Grant was a lot of things.

He was an esteemed professor at the famous Defender’s College in New York City, a loving father of two little girls, and a well-known author of a mystery novel series.

Mitchell Grant also used to be a valuable scientist at Gal Tech until he ran out of ideas. He was a coward, an imposter, and he was finding out he was very shitty at kidnapping someone.

Grant only saw his failures in life. His wife left him after he was dropped by Gal Tech. He never got to see his daughters as much as he wanted to. His contract with his publisher was being threatened because he couldn’t think of an ‘explosive conclusion’ to his book series. All he had was his current job. It wasn’t enough. How could it be, when he had a taste of having everything?

When Katie ‘Pidge’ Holt, his most intelligent student, came to him for a consultation on a personal project of hers, he saw dollar signs. He saw a solution.

Grant made copies of Miss Holt’s drafts and returned the originals. He gave her some misdirections and proceeded to sell the idea to Gal Tech. 

Being his former employer, Zarkon was familiar with Grant’s work and knew that the work was not his. Zarkon didn’t care much for the fact that Mitchell Grant lied to him but cared much more for the fact that he couldn’t bring the project to completion. Zarkon gave him an ultimatum. Bring him the person who started the project and get rich - or pay dearly for his transgression. 

Grant did not want to find out what would happen if he couldn't deliver.

He found Miss Holt’s  address from peeking into her file after hours. He spent the last days of the school year looking up how to best kidnap someone on his laptop. He hoped his search history wouldn’t be counted as incriminating when he was a mystery novel writer. 

Grant took a plane to Skyranch at Carefree Airport, stole a car using knowledge from a Youtube video, and drove straight to Miss Holt’s house with the intention of stealing her away the moment she was alone.

He choked.

He cased the house every day for a week. Every time he saw Miss Holt going somewhere alone he couldn’t bring himself to move from his kingdom of junk food wrappers to go after her. He thought of her brilliance. Her future. He thought about his daughters; as a man with daughters does when trying to sympathize with a woman. Zarkon gave him two weeks. Grant’s window of opportunity was getting narrow.

He was forced away from his stupor when he was woken from his fitful nap by Matthew Holt slamming the door to a lustrous BMW in the family driveway. He saw a flash of white hair, a duffel bag and suitcase, and Miss Holt entering the vehicle. She must be going on a trip. He had to move now or risk losing her. Grant groped at the passenger seat for his glasses, wiped his khakis of powdered donut dust, and peeled out of his hiding spot; two houses down next to a couple of giant cacti. 

He waited an hour, drenched in an mix of sweat from the heat and from freaking out, for the road to be clear of any possible witnesses. He drove ahead of the car Miss Holt was in and stopped; bracing for impact. He tried to relax. There was less risk of injury when the muscles were loose.

The impact was quick. Grant grabbed a crow bar and hopped out of the car. He assessed the damage. His plans quickly changed when he realized that flash of white hair was not dyed, as he initially thought, but was real and belonged to Lotor Daibazaal. Zarkon’s son.

What the hell was he doing with Miss Holt? Why didn’t Zarkon warn him? What was he supposed to do?

Lotor shouted at him as he opened the car door. He was poised to attack.

Grant retreated. He had to call his employer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the crash scene was realistic for ya’ll because it was based on a car crash i was in when i was 16. I didn’t even think about the fact that I could’ve climbed out the driver’s side when I was stuck in the passenger seat until I wrote this chapter lol. It really is amazing how much your head goes on the fritz in an emergency like that.
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos if you're enjoying this story. Every little bit makes my day less dreary and encourages me to write more. There's going to be a touch of fluff in the next chapter in it for ya ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Pidge is 19 and Lotor is 24 in this. There might be mentions of past relationships and other ships. I'm not sure yet. Obviously, Hunk and Lance are together. Stay tuned!


End file.
